To improve performance and reduce crashes on Windows, Google Chrome is going to block third-party software from injecting code into the browser. The Chromium team announced a multi-stage plan today to block code injection that will begin next year.

On Windows, two-thirds of Chrome users have applications, like antivirus or accessibility tools, that interact with the Google browser. These third-party apps run by injecting code inside of Chrome processes, but at the expense of these users seeing a 15% increased chance of the browser crashing.

Given alternatives like Chrome extensions and Native Messaging, Google will begin to block this older method as part of a multi-phase plan.

Starting with Chrome 66 in April 2018, the browser will begin showing affected users a warning after a crash. The prompt will list the software responsible and guide them to either update or remove it.

With version 68 in June, Chrome will begin blocking third-party software from injecting into Chrome processes. If this prevents Chrome from launching, the browser will restart and permit the injection but show users a warning advising that they remove it.

By January 2019 with Chrome 72, this accommodation will be removed with code injection always blocked. Google notes that most software will be affected by these changes save for Microsoft-signed code, accessibility software, and IME software.